Profusion of classical music concerts in Pune leaves an outsider astounded. Not only are in this city 10-12 concert halls (as opposed to about 5-6 in Delhi) in addition, it is home today to several of the finest artists – Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Pt. Suresh Talwalkar and Vidushi Prabha Atre.
Atul Upadhyay, despite being a fine violinist and running a music academy in Pune for years, is today better known for his series of classical music festivals in several cities like Nasik, Aurangabad, Pune, Baroda and Kolkata.
Swara Malhar, in its second edition, was a four day festival featuring a profusion of senior and popular artists. The first day featured santoor by Rahul Sharma, vocalist Shounak Abhisheki and violin duet by brothers Rajas and Tejas Upadhyay.
The second day started with a recital by students of the Violin Academy followed by a vocal recital by Pt. Sanjeev Abhyankar, senior disciple of Pt. Jasraj, but now a singer with his own distinct, instantly recognisable style of singing. He started appropriately with raga Megh, in which he sang two compositions of Pt. Jasraj (in vilambit ektyaal, and then drut teentaal “garaj ghata Ghana ghor”). His voice is better suited to murki laden taans, but seeing the “challan” of raga Megh , he embellished his taans with the more suitable “gamak”, to simulate the thundering clouds. Sanjeev’s second piece was in Des, in which he sang a composition of his own which was not only exceedingly lyrical but the lyrics were appropriate too – “barase basariya sawaan ke”. Indeed a most enjoyable recital, enhanced by excellent harmonium accompaniment by Milind Kulkarni.
Pt. Tejendra Narayan Mazumdar undoubtedly has slowly but surely worked his way into today being arguably, not only the finest representatives in his generation of the Maihar Senia sarod tradition inherited from his Gurus Ustad Ali Akkbar Khan and Ustad Bahadur Khan, but is today one of the finest sarodiyas around. His Ramdasi Malhar, played with only the shudha gandhar, in the tradition of the Senias, was protected from sounding like Gaud Malhar. After aalap and jor, he played a gat in dhammar taal, because of, as he put it, his tabla accompanist Pune-based Pt. Arvind Azad, disciple of Pt. Kishan Maharaj. Dhammar is a taal associated with Banaras tabla.
The second brief piece was in Nat Malhar, rendered in a masterly way; again both teen taal gats were very laya driven. Sadly towards the end of the concert, the sarod gave a slight problem because of humidity in the auditorium. The concert ended with the unmatched Begum Parveen Sultana, who is as popular for her singing as for her old world tehzeeb and affability with co-performers on stage and affection for her audience. The doyen sang Mian ki Malhar, succinctly and movingly, with her voice easily traversing the third octave which remains her speciality. She then sang her ever popular tarana in Hansadhwani, a mishra maand dadra, then two compositions in Bhairavi (her hit song from Kudrat “Hume tumse pyaar kitna” and later “Bhawani dayani” in jhaptaal).
The third day was a morning session, so one got to hear morning ragas in addition to the Malhars. Manjusha Patil, Gwalior gharana was in fine fettle, singing a staidly presented Ramkali, in which she sang two compositions vilambit teen taal “aaj radha tore” followed by the “un sang laagi” immortalised by Ustad Fayyaz Khan. Her next Raga Des had suitable lyrics for the theme of the festival, dealing with rains and clouds. On tabla was Rohit Mujamdar, and the evergreen Sahyog Kundalkar on harmonium.
Next, Vidushi Arti Anklekar, today a senior representative of the Jaipur Atrauli tradition, sang Jaunpuri, a Jogiya Asavari combination, Jaunpuri in ektaal, before switching to Anand Malhar composed by her Guru Kishori Amonkar, which is a combination of Malhar and Kalyan.
Distinct Malhar
There are several Malhar combinations which use the shudha gandhar (including the popular Ramdasi, Gaud) but Anand Malhar has a distinct shape of its own, which was handled very ably. Arti sang “barasat ghan aayo” with passion and feeling, and the subsequent very rousing Ektaal based composition “naad brahma parameshwar” in Mian Malhar was uplifting. Different stanzas were sung in adha chautaal, jhaptaal and teen taal which added to the dramatic appeal of the composition, but more than that, it was the beautiful outlining of aspects of the raga that was lovely.
Rich voice
Ustad Rashid Khan today has acquired a larger-than-life persona on stage, and he lived up to the audience expectations with his concert. The ambience he creates with his rich voice, interactive interjections by his masterly accompanists – tabla Pt. Vijay Ghate, harmonium Pt. Ajay Joglekar, sarangi Dilshad Khan – is indeed unmatched. His taalim of authentic old gayaki, presented with immense skill, created a monumental vocal structure, constructed piece by piece. His magnificent concert ended with the ever popular “Yaad piya ki aayi”, in Bhairavi, which though associated with Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, has today become as much Rashid’s signature.
Ustad Rashid Khan
The festival concluded with a concert by Pt. Vishwamohan Bhatt followed by a concert by Rakesh Chaurasia, with Pt. Vijay Ghate on tabla, Gino Banks on drums, Sheldon D’Silva with base guitar, Sanjay Das with acoustic guitar and Sangeet Haldipur on keyboards..
